The Pytchley book of refined cookery and bills of fare

Stew the rough parts of whatever fish, meat, poultry or game the quenelle is to be made of in a quart of water, with a sliced carrot, one onion (if white meat, six mushrooms), a dessert-spoonful of salt, until it is reduced to two-thirds ; strain; put into the stewpan two ounces of butter; melt and stir in with a wooden spoon until it becomes quite smooth two ounces and a half of flour ; add a pint of the broth, stir over the fire until it thickens, and then let it simmer for an hour, when it will become a thick smooth sauce ; pour it on a soup plate and let it get quite cool. Add to the pounded meat three ounces of butter, six ounces of panada and an egg beaten up; beat the whole well together, rub through a wire and hair sieve, or one of Kent’s triturating machines, and place it in the cool until it is required for use. I5S THE PYTCHLEY COOKERY BOOK. The panada not used must also be kept. When the quenelles are required for use, put a saucepan with some boiling water on the fire and place a small piece of the quenelle meat in it for one minute ; if soft like cream and it sets, it is fit for use, if not, add more panada and try it again, and flavour with salt if required, and continue adding the panada until it is quite soft. This quenelle meat can be poached in darioles, rolled up in rissolettes or small rissoles, rolled in bread and butter, covered with a thin pastry, egged and crumbed and fried, directions for which will be given as this chapter proceeds. In making all purees, much trouble will be saved by purchasing one of Kent’s Triturating Strainers. The somewhat dirty, and certainly tedious method of rubbing through a wire, and then a hair sieve, is entirely avoided. This machine can be obtained from 2 Js. 6d. and upwards, of Messrs. Kent, 199, High Holborn. As it is of great moment that the powder used in Curries should be good, and that Chutnee Sauces should be of the best quality, I can recommend these articles to be obtained from Stembridge’s Oriental Depot, Leicester Square. ENTREES. In commencing the chapter on Entrees, the Author begs to impress on his readers that all entrees should be selected for their simplicity and cleanliness ; that every meat should be cooked so as to retain its own natural flavour, that there should be no “ highly spiced sauces,” no rich, indigestible, thick brown gravies, no walnut catsup, no strong sauce, not even the proverbial “ bunch of sweet herbs,” of which in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the abuse and not the use is alone understood, and which is one of the relics of barbarism handed down to us by our forefathers like gout, and such delicacies. The Author has endeavoured to select entrees which are easily cooked, that are wholesome and delicate, and that the sauces or gravies added may only assist in making more excellent the flavour of the meats used. QUENELLE MEAT, ENTREES, ETC. *59 BEEF ENTREES. FILLETS OF BEEF A LA BE A RNA IS E. No. 175. Cut the fillet out of a sirloin of beef, trim it and make it, if not already so, quite round ; cut eight fillets about half an inch thick, flatten them, and trim them to exactly the same size ; put them in a saute pan with two ounces of butter, and fry them for seven or eight minutes ; set them round an entree dish, and pour over them half a pint of Sauce Bearnaise (No. 21). FILLETS OF BEEF AUX FINE HERBS. No. 176.